


Can't Settle Down

by Kingdom_Within



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Deadlock Gang, F/M, Origins, Pre-Fall of Overwatch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-07-30 23:07:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20105134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kingdom_Within/pseuds/Kingdom_Within
Summary: The American South West criminal underground fights with the law as much as they fight among themselves. The Deadlock Rebels, a relativity new player, want to make their mark on the world. Already they have pulled heists that experienced gangs never though possible, and they have gathered the attention of some of the powers well established in Arizona.Apparently some gangs are a little sensitive about being shown up by a couple of kids.





	Can't Settle Down

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy!  
I'd suggest looking up the song Settle Down by Holly Williams for the tender moment.

Arizona's unforgiving sun beat from the sky onto her no longer porcelain skin. At least she thought it wasn't the clean white it had been. It was difficult to see without losing her balance and she couldn’t remember ever being sunburnt. B.O.B. had always been close by with a tube of sunscreen and an umbrella. Probably because he took her to the doctors once as a kid and they told him it was dangerous with how little pigment she had.

She wished B.O.B. was here now. Damn Cole. Last night he apparently sold them out. She should have kept a better eye out after she turned him down a month and a half ago. He’d been butt hurt since, fighting over every stupid detail and drinking like he was as thirsty as the desert ground in this state. McCree’s told her his gut didn’t trust Cole any longer. Ashe shrugged it off, blaming a temporary broken heart for the change in behavior.

She regretted that when she was finishing a shot of tequila with McCree, laughing over a round of pool against some strangers. Cole pulled his gun and shot McCree while his back was turned. 

At least Joel saw it coming, she shouldn't have given him so much shit for being a city boy. He had the mind to tackled Cole making his shot go wide into McCrees shoulder instead of his heart. 

He would have been the hero of the night if half the bar didnt get in on the fight. Two grabbed Ashe the rest went for Joel and McCree. They didn't pull weapons till B.O.B. joined the fray, he was barely able to cover the two as they shot into his metal back. Ashe fought against them trying to pull their guns away and got a stock of a rifle to the skull.

She couldn't remember much after that. It must have been quite a few hours because she was woken by the hot mid morning sun and the strangers from the night before. Already her shirt was taken from her and at gunpoint they forced her to stand on a tall rickety stool and then they put a rope around her neck. 

The Hangman Gang. They had a sort of ritual about this she only heard tales of. They’d make you stand in the sun until you lost your balance or jumped. 

They usually took their victims shirt, the gangs leader told her she should be grateful they didn’t take her bra. They still hollered obscenities despite the small act of decency. They all drank beers and hung out comfortable under shaded seating built to for the entertainment.

She didn’t really feel grateful, but she didn't even notice them that much anyways. Cole, the now ex member of deadlock, had her attention when she could think straight and wasn’t worrying about the rest of her family. He sat apart from the other hangmen, drinking a beer and looking between her and the ground.

She tried to catch his guilty eyes as often as she could. She hoped when she fell he’d see the life leave her. Watch her take her last breath so she could come back and haunt him. At least until McCree hunted him down.

Not that she was accepting death, she couldn’t do much about it now. By the way the the surrounding crowd swayed it wouldn't be long. Her pores we're past sweating, she'd lost the little hydration her body had. It was a question whether she was stubborn enough that her brain would cook before she snapped her neck on the fall.

“The southwest’s newest gang leader cant last 3 hours?” The Hangman’s gang leader strolled up to her again. “Here I thought y’all would make a mark on the world. That no one would ever forget-" 

His monologue bored her. Like those old bond movies Jesse made her watch once. She let her eyes drop to the wood platform beneath lost in thought as he continued talking. Maybe her soul could stick around Jesse instead, wait for him to kick the dust a few years down the line and haunt some poor soul together. That could be kinda fun.

"-Hangman’s have the balls to-" the man's shut up. Six consecutive shots. Him and five hangmen fell over and their skulls were a bloody mess. She looked the direction she heard the peacekeeper fire. Jesse and his smoking gun came from behind the shaded seating. He put his pistol between his legs and one handed started to reload it. 

“Cole!” McCree yelled standing straight again.

He took aim pointing down towards the hangman's clubhouse. Cole was running there at a full sprint. The peacekeeper fired again and the traitor collapsed. 

Her knocking knees decided to give then, tipping the stool. 

Metal arms caught her before the noose tightened. B.O.B., stood beside the knocked over stool and blinked in concern for his charge.

“Joel! Bring the truck round!” Jesse yelled.

He ran up to them, grabbing the tipped stool and using B.O.B. to climb atop it. He pulled the rope from around her neck. “You ok?” Jesse leaned in so Ashe could see his soft brown eyes without turning her head.

She didn't answer, she wasn't ok.

“We gotta get her outta here,” Jesse hopped off the stool and urged the B.O.B. needlessly. He was already moving towards the coming truck.

The engine of Joel's unmuffled, lifted, four-door California try-hard truck came roaring towards them. B.O.B. did his best to be gentle setting her inside but every movement was fire on her skin. Jesse climbed in the opposite side and scooted one leg out to pull her to rest in his lap and against his chest. 

B.O.B. quickly cut the bindings around her hands and closed the door on the Arizona sun. Joel’s near black tinted windows and brand new A/C made the air felt like a balm. She closed her eyes relishing in it. Opening them once she felt her hair getting pulled from her face.

McCree was being as gentle as possible but every movement against her hurt. She didn't have the energy to reprimand him for it, or the will. She liked the affection and enjoyed that Jesse hadn’t even drank any tequila to show it.

He did it only with his right hand, reaching around her head to pull the hair away. His left arm was in a sling.

She reached black fingernails scratching the fabric over his elbow.

“Sorry Ashe," he apologized, “That's what took us so long.”

He sounded afraid. She found the will to lift her head and look him in the eyes. It’d been a while since McCree had worried or feared anything but she saw the frown on his features. Creasing his deep tanned forehead as he scowled.

She forced a small smile. He liked it when she smiled at him like this, so intimate. He huffed through his nose and leaned in, his lips touched her temple.

Time skipped after that. Her head fell with her eyes and she only felt her skin. It was too hot, she was too hot. It was an eternity of pure pain until it wasn't.

Then she woke up in a hospital bed.

Laying left side down she opened her eyes to thick plastic railing separating her from a nightstand of flowers, a stuffed bear, and McCree. She must have gasped or something because he jumped awake nearly tipping thee little plastic chair he leaned agains the wall.

"Ashe!" He leaned in grabbing the railing with one good hand. His other was in a sling still.

Familiar whirling came from behind her. B.O.B.s heavy steps came around and the lights of his head came into view.

"Thank God Ashe. You really had us worried.” Jesse spoke for the both of them. Worry seemed to wash off his features the more aware she became.

"St. Marks?" She asked her voice was scratchy and raw. B.O.B. immediately lifted a cup and straw and held it close to her lips and she quickly began sipping from it. 

"Yeah. Looks like those donations paid off, these doctors were serious ‘bout keeping you alive. No one's even told the cops or nothing and it's been a week."

"A week-" she spat the straw from her mouth. She tried to sit up moving the arm from under her head to under her torso, she cringed in pain as her skin pulled on itself 

"Hold up," he reached out a hand over her hip. "No need to rush. Joel's got the clubhouse and the goods in hand."

"The buyers-" Ashe argued weakly.

"Can wait. You just gotta get better. Not like we don't got the money to spare a couple weeks."

He was right. They had more than enough money they stole from her parents to retire in Havana for a couple lifetimes. And that was before the string of robberies last year and a half.

She lowered herself back to the bed. She noticed the cloth over her shoulder and on her back beneath the gown and thin blankets. Probably where the burns were the worst. The IV in her arm dripping in painkillers made it almost barrable. She was in rough shape and she'd been healing for a week.

"And you three?" She looked at Jesse's arm.

Jesse looked to B.O.B., "Good. B.O.B. took most the fire, he's got a couple scuffs, Joel dodged it all, and Doc says I'll be fine, I can start using it soon." He lifted his left side.

"Cole?"

"Dead."

"Good."

There was a short science again. B.O.B. put the straw and cup in front of Ashe again and she took a sip from it. 

Jesse watched her, the wheels on his head suddently turning.

"Thank you," she said to B.O.B. and he took the straw away with a blink. She looked back to Jesse, "What?" She asked her partner.

He chewed his lip, his hands fumbling his pockets for a cigar he couldn't smoke in a hospital. "That was just a real close call. Hangmen are gone, so is Cole, but-"

He was holding back a thought. Same one she figured he held back falling asleep after he finished playing with her hair at night. Same one she held back before the tequila finally put both them to sleep beneath his sheets. 

The same thought they didn't share because neither were ready to stop.

"We should get you some thing you can always carry," he said and pushed down his emotions. "Like a pistol or something. Could get a holster and keep it on your belt."

She nodded, relieved and disappointed. "We need to stop these gang wars."

Jesse gave a laugh, “Tall order.”

"I'm serious." She wondered if she even looked a fraction as dangerous as she wanted to.

His eyes squinted looking down at her, “You’re high.”

“McCree,” she growled. 

“Ashe,” he rolled his eyes. “How could we possibly do that?”

“Well- I dunno,” he scoffed at her again. “Yet!”

"Hey, hey, settle down. No need to ruin the doctors work. Just get some sleep and you can make some crazy plan later," he leaned back in his chair and finished with a signature shit eating grin.

"You're exhausting."

"Good."

**Author's Note:**

> Again I'll suggest looking up the song Settle Down by Holly Williams. Its nice. This wasn't like a song fic, but I imagine both Jesse's and Ashe's character have a little wish in the back of there minds to go for a simpler life. They could listen to that song and think about the possibilities.
> 
> Thanks for reading! I'm not like a real writer so I'm expecting some mistakes but hey, that shouldn't stop me from posting right?


End file.
